Marble Madness,
released by Atari in
1984, was one of the
most difficult games
we ever played.
Just because we
sucked at it did not
mean anything,
however, because the
game went onto
become one of the
most profitable and
sought after games
in the arcade. The
premise of the game
was relatively
simple. The idea
was to guide a
marble through a
series of six
courses, using a
trackball, while
avoiding enemies and
beating the clock.
Each course was a
unique isometric
maze, and the player
viewed the tracks
from an angled top
down perspective.
If the player was
able to finish the
course before time
elapsed, any left
over time was added
to the next
round.

Marble Madness was
released for home
consoles like the
NES, and in later
years as part of the
Midway Arcade
Treasures and Midway
Arcade Origins
classic arcade game
compilations.